Man is the treacherous rebel.
God is light and man is darkness. God is impeccable and man is
corruption. God is love and we are enmity. Yet though we are often not astonished
as the sweet psalmist of Israel, For every believer, it never
ceases to amaze the believer when he is given pause to consider
God the sovereign ruler, that's who He is, of all that is, that
moves, that is manipulated, that rises and wriggles, that swims
in the sea and flies in the air as this is clearly stated, all
that is, all that is, He's the proprietor, the sole
proprietor of the universe. He wants nothing and needs nothing. And to think that he is mindful
of us is a wondrous and amazing thing. What is man that thou
art mindful of him? You are not alone in this consideration
of this wondrous mystery. When Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist, stood before Mary, she said, Who am I that
the mother of my Lord should come to me? When Mephibosheth
bowed before David, he cried, What is thy servant, that thou
shouldest look on such a dead dog as I am? What is man that
thou art mindful of him? The scriptures declare that God
is mindful of his people, and declares it in several ways.
God's mindfulness of His people is to always do them good. Always
to do them good. He said that in Jeremiah 32,
40. I will not depart from them to do them good. Do them good. There was never a moment when
He did not have our interest in hearts. That is the interest
of His elect. I don't know of any way other than to say this,
but God has been mindful of us as long as He's been mindful.
And God has always been mindful, always been mindful. God's mindfulness
of His people, to do them good is something that began, is not
something that began in time. Just as He is without beginning
and without end, so He's been mindful of His people without
beginning and without end. He's mindful of us for our good.
Our Lord said, I will not turn away from them to do them good.
That means if He's for us and mindful of us, it's always about
doing good for us and doing good to us. We are chosen of God in
Jesus Christ. Chosen of God in Jesus Christ
to be heirs according to the promise. We are recipients of
grace, recipients of salvation, of everlasting glory. And that
all was settled before the world began. before we existed, before
the earth was made, before those stars were hung in their sockets
in space, before any of that happened, he was mindful of a
people that he had not even yet created. He was mindful of them. Our Lord said, the world hates
you, but it loves its own, but it hates you because God has
chosen you out of the world. Out of the world. Divisions 1,
you're familiar with it. God has chosen from the beginning.
God has given us all spiritual blessings and Christ according
to these has chosen us in Him. When? Before the world began.
That is prior to the conception of the world. That's what that
means. God conceiving something? No, it's prior to Him making
it. Prior to Him setting His purpose.
He was mindful of His people. Paul said, We are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of God, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation, from the beginning,
ere the earth was. He chose His people. The election
declares in no uncertain terms that God was mindful of us before
the world was. That's an astonishing thing for
every believer. Every believer loves the doctrine
of election because it declares that nothing about us would hinder
God from being mindful of us. See, God has saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ
before the world began. We already had it, we just didn't
know it. It took the preaching of the
gospel to reveal it to us. God's mindfulness of us is revealed
in the everlasting covenant of redemption and grace. He's made
a covenant with his people. And that covenant, according
to Jeremiah 33, was that He would remember their sins no more. How can that ever be except our
sins did not exist before God? And the only way that can be,
if our sins were put away by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and our sins were atoned for, that our sins were propitiated
for, that God is satisfied with every one of His people, He's
not mad at you, and He never has a frown on His face. He will
not turn from you to do you good. And He does it with a smile on
His face. The only time God changes according to Matthew 18 is when
one of His children put down another one of His children,
and the angels fly to His defense according to that. The covenant
of promise, ordained in all things and sure is eternal and is ratified
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute, and all
things necessary for the full and complete redemption and glorification
of the elect, was forever settled in the eternal counsels and indestructible
contact between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This
covenant of grace was made in full and sure anticipation and
intent of the fall of when Adam's sin did not catch
God off guard. He did have to come up with another
plan. Because God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts
and His ways higher than our ways. For good and holy reasons
done only to Himself, He decreed to employ man to act according
to his mutable nature. We talk about Adam in his original
state. He was not a spiritual man, except
that he had the spirit of man. not a spiritual man. Because
if he was a spiritual man he would have never fallen. He would have never plunged the
whole world in the human race. Or at least if he had fallen
he wouldn't have been recognized by God because he was seen in
Christ. But he was an innocent man. He was innocent because
he was not exposed to except one thing that was sinful in
the whole world. In the day you eat of that tree
you shall surely die. We say things like he died spiritually.
Well, he didn't die spiritually. He just died. He began dying
that moment and would eventually die altogether. He never had a link to spiritual
things. You say, well, God spoke to him.
God spoke to a lot of people. Jesus Christ spoke to every kind
of sinner you could ever imagine. And a lot of them didn't like
him. And he's truly and very God. God did not tempt Adam to sin.
For it says in James 1, God tempted an old man to sin. I need not
and dare not apply human logic to discern divine revelation.
He does not give account of his matters. The Scriptures declare
that God does things in a manner that will always redound to his
glory and his goodness. The Scripture says this, all
things are predestinated by God. All things are made by him, for
him, and they happen through him and to him. Is God the cause and author of
man's sin and unbelief and condemnation? No. And yes. Don't try to figure
it out. The biblical answer is no. It
says He wasn't. Is God used, controlled, and
overruled the sin and unbelief of men and demons for the good
of His people and for the glory of His own name? Absolutely.
He does all of that. What happened in the fall? What
was supposed to happen? Might as well just relax and
be there because that's what was supposed to happen. How do
I know that? Because before Adam fell, there
was already the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Jesus Christ was already slain in the purpose and will of God.
You say, Well, that hasn't happened yet. Well, no, it hasn't, but
it will. If God has purposed it, you can
count on it. That's never going to change. Pharaoh pursued Israel because
of hatred for God and his people. God employed that depraved, vengeful
man and ordained to use his hate, even excite his hate, as the
peoples first stepped in the direction to the Promised Land.
God hardened his heart, and he hardened his heart. But God hardened his heart. He
excited Pharaoh's hatred against Israel. Why? Because Israel's
got to go. Egypt's got to be defeated and
Israel has to walk across the Red Sea on dry land and start
that journey that took 40 years to get to the Promised Land.
God did not make Satan torment Job. In fact, God instituted
that thing when the sons of God come before men and talk about
Satan came before God. He's the creation of God and
called the Son of God. God looked at him and said, Do
you see my servant Job? Satan didn't say, Well, I've
got something to say about your servant Job. He didn't say that.
He didn't instigate this thing. God did. God said, Do you see
my servant Job? He's a good man. He hates evil. Always does what's right. He's
a good man. Satan said, Well, does he serve
you for nothing? give him everything. He's got
thousands of cattle and camels and ten sons and daughters. He's
got a wife. He's got everything. He's a rich,
rich man. Heck, if you did that for me,
I'd serve you too. Because you serve you for nothing. God said
we'll take everything he's got and we'll see. And so he did. He took his ten children. He took all his wealth. joke said lord take the way yes
things well stuff is okay got stuff let me make you sick touches
you know it's whole different thing feel bad and so satan smote him with balls where he couldn't even wear clothes
they hurt so bad he sat out naked beside the fireplace and took
potsherds broken potsherds and scraped the core out of those
balls you know if you ever had a boy you know that's painful
he was covered in them torment torment the flesh what did Job
say? well shall we receive good at
the hand of the Lord not evil also blessed be the name of the
Lord should be the name of the Lord.
Did God make Satan do that? No. He's the one that instituted
the challenge. He's the one that instituted
it. Did God make the Jews crucify the Son of God? No. He didn't
make them do it, but he used it in order to end the dangers
used to eventuate in the satisfaction of his law and justice. They
were hatefully full of hatred and venom against the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let his blood be on our heads. We will not have this man reign
over us. Hang him. Crucify him. Crucify
him. What were they doing? Exactly
what God had ordained to be done according to Acts 4.24. They
were actually instrumental in the salvation of the elect. They
didn't know they were, but they were used to put the Son of God
on the cross. God did not make Adam sin and
fall, but He used it and ordained him in order to exalt the last
Adam in the recovery of His elect. Here where no explanation is
forthcoming, do not try to second-guess God or try to explain why He
does what He does. Here where the infinite smacks
us in the face of our finiteness, we bow in reverent worship to
his wisdom, justice, sovereignty, and goodness. The believer in
reality would not change a thing. We will not change one of his
words to please men and women who despise his glorious sovereignty.
God is absolutely sovereignty, and that sovereignty involves
this. He's sovereignly mindful always
of his people. This blessed covenant of grace
is ordered in all things and sure from all eternity. God's
mindfulness of this goodness and mindful love and goodness
toward his chosen is ever seen in permitting Adam to fall. Use
the word permitting because I don't know what else to say. We make
use of words like permit and allow in reference to all to
the fall because the language, our language is finite. We can't
come up with a better word, but I think a better word is employ. There's a scope to this matter
that we will never grasp, and that is the intellect of the
Almighty in execution of His good purpose. Since He employed
the fall of our fellow head, then it was for the best. Wait,
the fall of Adam was for our good? All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them of the call according
to His purpose. Had it been best for sin to have
never entered God's world, it would never have entered God's
world. he would not have allowed it. Had it been best for Adam not
to fall, then God would have not employed him to do so. The serpent did not enter the
garden on a covert operation unnoticed. He did not overpower
God and cause him to vacate his throne while he worked his wiles
on Eve. He tricked Eve, ensnared Adam,
and was instrumental in the ruin of our race, but he did it He
did not pull the wool over God's eye, blindside God, or cause
one eye of God's purpose to be altered, discouraged, or disrupted.
Here's the thing. God was mindful of us when Adam
fell. He employed our fall because
He had something far better for us, better than the Garden of
Eden, better than anything Eden could have ever provided. yet adoption, and redemption,
and restoration, and glory. I have no idea what it may have
been like in this world if Adam had not sinned, but I would not
trade one moment of grace for all of it, whatever it might
have been. The glory of His grace is why
He does everything, and we've been given intimate knowledge
of that sweet, saving, unmerited favor And that's the best of
things. We live in our crazy world. Things
are falling apart around us, crumbling. It's like we're an ancient civilization. Things are just falling apart. But we have the very best of
things that a person can have. We have the grace of God because
He is mindful of us. Despair not. Weep not. Christ said weep not for me.
Weep for you and your children. They're going to have a hard
time. I'll be fine. God was so mindful of us when
when Adam fell that he would not send our fallen parents from
paradise until he had first preached the gospel to them and showed
them how he would redeem us by keeping the way of the tree of
life. That is the language he used in Genesis 3.24. He put that altar at the east of
Eden to keep the way of the tree of life. The Lord sought out
that fallen pair that was hiding from Him. He promised a Redeemer
and redemption in Genesis 3.15. The seed of woman shall bruise
the serpent's head. He stripped them of their fig
leaf aphrons. He killed an innocent victim
for them. He clothed them in skins of a
slain sacrifice. He prepared and altered the gates
of Eden and instituted worship by blood sacrifice. all before they left Eden. All before they left Eden. God
proved His mindfulness of us in His patience and providential
care of us throughout all the days of our sinful rebellion.
We were born in rebellion against God, born with a hatred for God,
and we were born drinking iniquity like water. There are no innocent
children born into the world. They're all guilty of sin before
God. Now they're innocent in the sense they've not been exposed
to a lot of things, but give them a chance. Give them a chance. They'll be
exposed to a lot of things. You'll find out how un-innocent
they really are. During the whole time of our
unregenerate living death, we were not mindful of Him. He was ever mindful of us. I
think about my life before I heard of Christ. I think about the
things I did and I wondered how in the world could He even look
at me. But He was mindful of me. And
He crowned me with glory. He preserved us for Jesus Christ
by sovereign providence till the appointed day, the day of
our awakening, the moment of our calling and conversion by
His almighty grace. Every elect sinner is immortal
in this world until he is born again. There are numerous illustrations
of divine providence in Scripture. Philippian jailer. God sent an earthquake and shook
him up. And he asked the question that only one man asks in all
of scripture. One question, one question. And I know preachers
get up and ask it all the time. It's a common thing. This man
was sent on an earthquake and Peter and Barnabas, was it, got
cut loose and sent out to preach the gospel. in Acts chapter four
the Philippians said what must I do to be saved? That's the
only man that ever asked that question in the history of biblical
truth. I'll tell you this, no man's
ever asked me that question. But if anybody does, I got the
answer. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ in thy house. anybody ever asked, I got the
answer. So do you. All that. He was a jailer. That
was his job, put these heretics in jail, chain them up, sit there
at his desk, listen to them singing hymns, wonder what the world's
going on. God saved him. Providentially,
he was in that place. Providentially in that place.
I find it over and over again in scripture. God is mindful
of us, mindful of us. He preserves us amidst the corruption
of our hearts, the temptations of Satan, the allurements of
the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the deceitfulness
of our own heart. He remembers that we're dust
and gives us grace sufficient for every need we have and always
has. why wouldn't I put in hell? I
certainly deserved it. Why wouldn't I jerked up from
this life, cast down into the pit? God was mindful of me. That's the only reason, nothing
else. There's only one thing about
us that God is not, there's not one thing about us that God is
not mindful of us, all things. work together for good to them
that love God, to them that call according to His purpose, all
things. God is mindful of us, not because
of anything in us, because He was mindful of us before we was, for His own namesake and for
the glory of His Son. God is so mindful of us. Would
you God that we would be mindful of Him? mindful of his truth,
mindful of his love, mindful of his word, mindful of his ordinances,
mindful of his providence, mindful of his people, mindful of his
will and mindful of his honor. Would to God that we were. And sometimes we are. But often
we're not mindful of anything but ourselves. But you know what, that doesn't
change. God is still always mindful of
His people. He will not turn from us to do
us good. And He's also fixed in our hearts
that we will not turn from Him. It says that in Jeremiah. Psalm 115.12 says, The Lord hath
been mindful of us, therefore He will bless us. He will bless
the house of Israel He will bless the house of Abraham, the priesthood,
the church, that's us. Why? Because He's been mindful
of it. The Lord is mindful of His people,
therefore He will bless us. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.